Sunset Beach, NC

I read the book The Mailbox, by Marybeth Whalen, a couple months ago. Imagine my surprise when Wonderful Husband (WH) chose Calabash for our vacation and told me that we'd be going to Sunset Beach for our shore time. Woo hoo!

I couldn't pass up the opportunity of finding the Kindred Spirit mailbox which Marybeth Whalen had written about in her book. We had gone into a couple beach shops to buy a visor for me. (Yes, once again I forgot to bring one on vacation with me. Darn!) WH asked where the Kindred Spirit mailbox was located and the cashier told us to drive to the end of the street and park in one of the two street parking places. Then go onto the beach (via public access) and walk about 45 minutes to get to it.

YIKES! I'll be getting some exercise! We decided to wait to do it. (Hey it's vacation, we can take our time in making decisions.) So three days later, we parked in one of the four parking spaces on the street. Put on suntan lotion, my $3.50 visor and off we went to the public access wooden bridge leading to the beach. We picked up our flip flops once we hit the sand and set off at a good pace staying out of the water trying to walk and keep our eyes alert for the mailbox.

We found it!

It took us 35 minutes to walk to it, and WH had predicted that we would spot foot traffic leading to the dunes helping us locate the mailbox. The day was sunny and the breeze coming off the ocean was delightful. There were a husband, wife, and daughter writing in notebooks when we arrived. WH took a picture and then we took out notebooks and pens to write our thoughts.

One thing I found interesting was a note taped inside the mailbox lid asking for the person who finds a completed notebook to mail it to a P.O. Box in Hope Mills, NC. (I guess no one removes what's written every evening like I thought and it disappointed my romantic notion a bit.)

I saw something I'd never seen before on a beach.

Sand dollars.

They were broken unfortunately, yet I can't tell you over the years how many jellyfish I've seen on beaches and I'd much rather see broken sand dollars. I collected a few and took a picture. (FYI, I left them there since my years are over of bringing stinky shells back into my home.)

During our stroll in the shallow water, it took us about 45 minutes to get back to the public access bridge. The water was cool, not cold (83 degrees), and about 20 degrees warmer than the ocean temperature at Wildwood, NJ. Loved it!

Thank you Wonderful Husband for taking me on this adventure. I know I wouldn't have found the Kindred Spirit mailbox without your presence since I'm geographically challenged. You are the best!